Julian Casablancas: 'Lou Reed is on the Mount Rushmore of Rad Dudes'

Julian Casablancas has paid tribute to the late Lou Reed, describing him as being on the "Mount Rushmore of rad dudes."

The Strokes frontman appears on the cover of this week's NME, which is on newsstands and available digitally now. In an exclusive interview with Cerebal Ballzy's Honor Titus as part of NME's Heroes special, he opens up about the late Velvet Underground founder, the Strokes and Beat literature.

Speaking about Lou Reed, who died in October 2013, Casablancas said: "It was so f--king sad when Lou died. I was f--king genuinely upset. He's everything – the reason I started the label, music ... I just felt the injustice, of how amazing he was.

"But he wasn't really mainstream," he added. "I think he may have done too many drugs, to be honest. But also the live thing - I was thinking that what I liked about him is that he didn't try to make it all sound the same. There was a disconnect. I also think that's why he didn't get a sense of how loved he was. I mean, he must have had some idea, he must have heard people talking about Bob Dylan and him, but he wasn't mainstream really. But for me he's on the Mount Rushmore of rad dudes."

Meanwhile, Julian Casablancas introduced his new band the Voidz and premiered new music in a video interview, which you can watch below.